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PCA LAUNCHES COCONUT FOOD SAFETY PROGRAM
By EDU LOPEZ
The government is aiming at reducing aflatoxin and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) levels in copra and in crude coconut oil. Aflatoxin and PAH are known to cause cancer. The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has recently launched its food safety campaign to support government efforts to strengthen its food safety control systems of coconut products in order to comply with new and more effective international standards. "The food safety campaign reinforces PCA's advocacy not only to improve farm productivity but more specifically to help our coconut farmers improve the quality of copra they produce" PCA Administrator Oscar Garin said. The campaign is a multisectoral effort that brings together coconut farmers, millers, traders, officials from government agencies and from the European Union (EU) Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines with PCA as the lead agency. It was simultaneously carried out in Zamboanga City, Davao City, Lucena City, Catarman City, and Calbayog City, the country's major coconut producers. Under the EU-funded Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA), the PCA has awarded 15 two-burner kukum dryers to 15 coconut farmers cooperatives across the country to assist the farmers in shifting from drying their copra under the sun or in direct smoke-dryers (tapahan). A kukum dryer is designed to send off heat unto the coconut meal without the dirt from the road if it is by the sun-drying or without the smoke if drying by the kiln. Improperly dried copra is vulnerable to fungal invasion largely by Aspergillus flavus, the fungus that produces toxic metabolites known as aflatoxin, and on the other hand, it may contain PAH due to surface contact of smoke. PAH is cancer inducing compound and known as a genotoxic carcinogen. International food safety standards set the limit of aflatoxin contamination at 20 ppb (parts per billion). Meanwhile, the German Society for Edible Oils proposed an upper limit of 5 ppb for heavy PAH together with a total PAH content of less than 25 ppb. Manila Bulletin
June 02, 2008
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